Doppelganger
by Kimauri
Summary: What if Cadmus succeeded in cloning Robin, KF, and Aqualad? A short experiment into the conclusion of the idea. Features Robin and Red X, with references to other characters. Currently a oneshot.


**Based of an idea I've seen floating around that Cadmus _did_ clone Robin, KF, and Aqualad when they captured them. I doubt this'll _ever_** **get put on the show, cause, let's face it, why would it, but I liked it**.

**None of the three clones named have any resemblance to their 'canon' selves in any other continuity.**

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Robin labors for breath, his chest aching with bruises and legs trembling with the effort to just stay upright. His left eye is swollen, nearly shut, his lip bleeding and arms weak and slack at his sides. His opponent is hardly any better; his full body suit hides most of the damage, but a few tears here and there reveal shallow cuts, and his body is trembling too. Robin never takes his eyes-well, _eye_-off of the black-suited teen.

They are mirror images of one another. Robin lets out a shuddering breath, hacking suddenly at the blood that lodges in his throat. It's too much effort to stand. He collapses, weak, tired, and nearly broken.

Like a broken doll, his opponent falls too, with only marginally better grace. They're trapped anyway-the explosion that rocked the building called off the fight, also collapsed the pillars at the only exit. There are no windows, no doors, no cracks in the foundation. There's only two boys, beaten silly and bleeding, choking on cement dust and blood.

Like Robin, the other boy's breathing is ragged. It can't be easy breathing through that mask; from Robin's perspective, he can see the darker stains of blood around the mouthpiece, can hear the wet sucking sound as his doppelganger breathes.

"Just... Just take it off already," Robin says, voice weak and shaking. He's hoping there's no collapsed lung. "It's not-not like I don't know what you look like anyway."

That was supposed to be a joke. Instead his doppelganger-_RED X_, he tries to remember-rips the mask off with such a vengeance it's a wonder he isn't holding a clump of hair with the skull-printed black mask. Honestly, it's strange to look and see his face doing something he isn't-like glaring through black eyes at him. Red X, clone of Dick Grayson, Robin the Boy Wonder, couldn't have looked more pathetic, shooting glares from two panda-looking eyes, teeth tainted red with blood and a knot quickly forming on his head. Even still, Robin knew _he_ didn't look any better. Their similarities were probably quite striking by this point.

For a while they just sat and rested in silence, content to let their aching bodies sag on the floor like broken toys. It wasn't until Red X broke into a coughing fit of epic proportions that Robin began to worry-they had done quite a number on each other.

"Hey? You okay?" Carefully (like a approaching a skittish beast), Robin picked his way closer, letting his legs drag behind him on arms too tired for this kind of thing. Red couldn't open his eyes through his coughing fit, doubling over-_that was a __**lot**__ of blood, should there be so __**much**__ of it?_-but only flinched a little when Robin placed a hand on his shoulder. Like his mother had done when he got sick, but far more gentle for the sheer fact of the bruises they both sported, Robin rubbed small circles on his back.

Slowly, Red's breathing calmed, and, too tired to complain, fell against the wall.

When he found his breath (as weak as it was), Red had to ask: "Why do you have to do that?"

To which Robin could only tilt his head. "Do... what?"

"_That._" With a tired, weary sigh, Red dropped his head. "_This_. Why do you have to do _this_?"

Robin let out an uneasy laugh. "Sorry...?"

Red X just shook his head. "Please. Don't be."

And then he cried.

It was gut instinct that made Robin reach out and hold the boy that stole his face. Red fell into his arms like a lost six year old, and even hitting each others bruises and breaks, they clung. That alone might have contributed to the tears falling, but neither one found they cared. Weeks of searching, hours of fighting, and minutes of just resting had formed a bond and mutated it.

And then, they were just two lost, injured, tired boys locked into situations neither one had asked for.

"I'm twenty weeks old, today," Red said. "Thirteen weeks in a tube-I don't really remember it. Two weeks waiting for Inertia to come to, and then another week for Mantalad. By then, Inertia and I had already decided we were breaking out, and taking Mantalad with us. It wasn't too hard, either, to leave. We had the knowledge. Then... looking for you."

Robin, still holding his twin, only shook his head. "Why?"

"It was my purpose." Even Red didn't sound so sure. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do after. Fight you, talk to you, even just _meet you_. I-I had to _know_. 'Nertia and Mantalad didn't really care one way or another." Red laughed a little. "All 'Nertia wanted was to find a good burger joint and Manta? I don't know. Maybe find the sea? Guy never told me _anything_..."

"So what now? We've met, fought, and now we're talking. I guess that's everything on your list, right? Did-Is it helping?"

But Red was just silent.

Robin sighed. It wasn't a groan, or irritation, just the exhaustion of the day spent hunting his doppelganger. Quietly, he started talking.

"Red-"

"_Don't call me that!_"

Robin blinked in surprise at the boy squirming out of his grasp. His once cool, resigned eyes were livid and lit with a fire Robin hadn't know his eyes even capable of containing. "Don't. Not you."

"Well, what _do_ I call you?"

Red X-no, apparently just _the boy_-shrugged one shoulder. They drifted back to silence, this time an uncomfortable quiet.

Robin spoke first, reaching up to remove his mask from his face. Staring eye-to-eye at his clone, Robin said, "I guess... Cadmus already told you who I am." His clone nodded. "And... I guess that means you know what happened to my... to _our_ parents?"

A look of heart wrenching shock, and maybe a little bit of gratitude crossed the other boy's face as he realized just _what_ his original was offering. What little bit he had to give, and just how _much_ it really was.

"I can't," he whispered.

Robin (Dick) shook his head. "Course you can. You're a Grayson and I know-I _know_ Mom would have loved you." Too stunned for words, the other boy just sat across from his... his brother? The title felt... surprisingly good in his mind. "She and Dad had always wanted another child. They were talking about it... just before Zucco did what he did." A sad, far-off smile tugged at Robin's lips even as he threw away the scowl that always accompanied Zucco's name. "Martha, if it was girl. Xavier if it was a boy.

"I don't know. I think Xavier Grayson has a nice ring to it. Don't you?"

Red X (Xavier) didn't have any words. There were no words to express the thankfulness after being given the world. So they hugged instead, tired, cold, sore, and more than a little desperate for the steady feel of another human being. There were tears, pain, and even a little healing. In the end, it was hours before anyone found them.

Batman discovered them asleep, heads lulled together.

And thus, the Bat family grew by one.

Not to say that Red X-Xavier, as he sometimes preferred-was a saint. He still disappeared some nights, sporting new items in his next appearance with barely any memory of their theft. Batman referred to it as "conditioned magpie behavior", but Xavier just thought of it as the milestone around his neck dragging him under. He always returned the stolen goods to their rightful places, usually with a little "Sorry" tucked somewhere close. When he chose not to live in Wayne Manor, he patrolled his own section of Gotham, trying to find his way in a world that he only barely understood. Inertia could _sometimes_ be spotted on the outskirts of Gotham-banned from entering by the same meta-human rules as the superhuman community at large. Mantalad was nowhere to be seen. Rumor had it he had slipped into Gotham Harbor and disappeared beneath the waves.

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**[A/N]:** Well? First venture into a new series. _Might_ come up with a story for this, but don't hold me to it. Anybody want to play with the idea? Let me know if you do-I'd love to read it.

Review?


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